Assig-nob



Dec. 13, 1927.

CZ- C. MANCHESTER METHOD AND MACHINE FOR SEPARATING FLANGED NESTED STAMPINGS 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 24,

INVENTOR.

Dec. 13, 1927. v 1,652,786

C. C. MANCHESTER FOR SEPARATING FLANGED NESTED STAMPINGS METHOD AND MACHINE Filed Jan. 24, 1927 5 cs-Sheet 2 INVEN TOR. Ck V05 a/yfl/w/nasze? METHOD AND MACHINE FOR SEPARATING FLANGED NESTED STAMPINGS Filed Jan. 24, 1927 5 Sheets- Sheet ,3

Dec. 13, 192?. r

C. C. MANCHESTER METHOD AND MACHINE FOR SEPARATING FLANGIED NESTED STAMPINGS 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Jan, 24, 1927 Dec. 13, 1927. 1,652,786

C- C. MANcHEsTER METHOD AND MACHINE FOR SEPARATING FLANGED NESTED STAMPINGS Filed Jan. 24, 1927 5 ShQGQS-ShBt 5 w as IN V EN TOR.

Patented Ben. 13, rear.

onYn c. anorrnsrnn, or TOLEDO, CHI

0, nests-non To THE AYLING 8:; REICHERT COMPANY, OF: TOLEDO, OHIO, A CORPQRATION OF. OHIO.

' METHOD AND uacnrnn roasnraaamme rtanenn unsure n STAMPINGS.

Application filed January 24, 1927. Serial No. 163,204.

This invention relates to a method'and machine-for separating flanged, nested stampings. Flanged stampings, particularly for float shells, are sometimesformed in pairs by running two ribbons of sheet metal through a stamping machine at the same time, oneabove the other, and forming the stampings by a single pair of dies, such procedure having certain advantages from 10 a manufacturing standpoint. When so formed there is, of course, a very close union between the individuals of each pair of stainpings, and the operation of separating them manually is rather diflicult, and there fore slow and costly.

One object of this invention is the provision of a simple method and machine for performing this work of separating such nested stampings with a considerable de crease in the amount of labor involved li'inother object is the provision of mechanical means for holding and directing a pair of stampings so that their. flanges may be presented to the'point of an elongated 2o wed e and the Wed e and stam inns caused t: 7 b o to move relatively so that the tapered walls of't'he wedge gradually spread the flanges apart and break the union between the stampj'ngs.

Another object is the provision of means for stripping one of the stampings of a pair from the machine in one. position of the holder and the other stamping in a further advanced position, so that all the inner stampings are automatically collected and kept-separate from the outer stampfngs.

Cit

A further object isthe provision of ama chine of the character stated in which the travel of the stampings is in the arc'of a circle, so as to permit the use of a wedge of considerable length, in spite of the fact that the vmachine occupies but little floor space, and along avery gradually tapered wedge enabling the machine to exert steady and heavy pressure for a minimum of power.

Other objects will appear as I proceed I h the description of one embodiment of the invention which, for the purposes of thepresent application, I have illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure I is a front elevational View of the complete machine.

Fig. II is a side elevation of the same.

F-igz'III is a detail elevational View of the plate which carries the wedge, but with the wedge removed.

Fig. IV is a cross-sectional view of the plate, taken substantially on the line IV-IV, Fig. III.

Fig.V- is a detail perspective of the strip ping finger for the outer stamping.

Fig. VI is a detail perspective of the stripping'finger for the inner stamping.

Fig. VII is a detail perspective of a flared guide whichis employed to direct the nested stampingsinto close contact with the plate and thus into position to be properly engaged by the wedge.

Fig. VIII is a' detail front elevation of the main section of the wedge bar. Fig. IX- is a developedview of the outer edge of the same.

Fig'X is a section taken substantially on the line XX, Fig. VIII.

Fig. XI is a detail, partly in section, of Y one of the holders for the nested stampings.

Fig. XIII is a detail perspective view of the forward or knifeblade section of the wedge bar.

Fig. XIII is a fragmental cross-section of 8a the plate with the wedge bar assembled thereon, the section being taken substantially on the line XIIIXIII, Fig. I.

Fig. XIV is a fragmental detail plan View of the revolving arm.with a pair of nested stampings thereon. i

Fig. XV is a rear elevational View of the arm, its supports for nested stampings, and the ring gear by which it is moved, and

XVI is an elevational View showing 99 a pair of stampings in the process of being separated. I

Similar reference characters refer to like parts throughout the views.

In the drawings, the machine is disclosed as built upon one short front leg 10, and

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two longer rear legs or standards 11, the bed 12 of the machine being supported upon the top of the leg 10, and being provided with suitable holes through which the standards 12 extend and by which the bed is supported through the intermediacy of collars 13 to which the bed 12 is bolted. On the top of standards 11 is supported a cross-beam 14 upon which may be mounted an electric motor 15 which may be employed to drive the belt 16 running over a pulley 17, fast upon a shaft 18, the rear bearing for which is mounted upon a cross brace 19 and the front bearing for which is located in a supporting block 20, which is bolted to one side of the front leg 10.

On its outer end the shaft 18 carries a pinion 21 which. meshes with a ring gear 22 of considerable size. As shown in Fig. XV, this gear is bolted upon an arm 23 in the mid position of the latter. The gear 22 and arm 23 are together journaled upon a supporting spindle 24, mounted in blocks 25 and 26 bolted to the upper surface of the bed 12. ()n the ends of the arm 23 and on the front face thereof I mount holders 27, shown in detail in Fig. XI. Each of these holders is drilled at the center to take the outer diminished diameter portion of a stud 28, the holder 27 being retained upon the stud by means of a set-screw 29, as will be apparent from the drawing. The opposite end of the stud is of a still smaller diameter to extend through a hole in the arm 23, and is threaded to take a nut 30 by means of which the stud is held in position upon the arm.

The spindle 24, which is prevented from turning, as by means of pin 31 in block. 26, carries at its forward end a plate 32 which is drilled at 33 to receive the spindle. The plate is fixed, being locked to the spindle against both bodily and rotary movement by a locking pin 34: as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. I. On its front face at the periphery, plate 32 is rabbeted very slightly, as at 33, so as to provide suflicient room behind the main surface of the plate to accommodate the flange of one stamping. An arc-shaped bar, flat on its rear surface, is secured to the plate 32 at the periphery of the latter, thus forming with rabbet- 33 a groove shown clearly in Fig. XIII. The bar i'i'ientioned is composed of a main section shown in detail in Fig. VIII, and a smaller forward or knife-blade section 36. Both of these sections are rigidly secured to the plate 32 by suitable means such as bolts or machine screws extending through holes 37 and 38 respectively in the sections, the rear edge of the section 36 being butted against the forward edge of section 35 when the parts are assembled.

In front of the section 36 I mount a flared guiding strip 39, the holes {10 in this strip registering with the holes 38 in the bar section 36 so that the two pieces may be mounted by means of one set of fastenings. The front faces of the bar sections 35 and 36 are also rabbeted, as at 41, for a distance inward from the periphery substantially equal to the width of the rabbet 33, both rabbets being wide enough to easily aocommodate the flan 'es on the stampings. The depth of the ralibet etl, however, is not constant, but decreases continuously from its forward end to its rear end as shown in Fig. IX, thereby producing a long, gradual taper on the front side of the bar sections 35 and 36, which, taken with the flat surface at the rear of the sections forms an arc-shaped wedge running down to a point or knife-edge in the section 36.

A notch cut into the face of bar section 35, receivcs an arm 43 extending laterally from a stripping finger 14. lying upon the face of the rabbet 11 and sharpened at its forward edge d5 so as to ride under the flange of a stamping passing over it. The rear end of the stripping linger outward- 1y flared at 46 to guide the stamping out-- ward. The stripping finger is secured to the bar section by means of machine screws +l-7.

At the rear end of the bar section 35 is a second stri 'ipii'ig finger -18 which has a depressed lip 49, sl'iarpened at its forwaij'd edge, lying against the bottom of the rabbet 33 and adapted to run under the flange of a stamping and guide it outwardly. The rear end of the linger 4:8 is flared outwardly at 50 for assisting in the dumping of the stamping.

The arm 23 on the forward side of each end thereof carries a pair of studs or pins 51 which are flat at their ends and constitute abutments for the flanges of the stamp ings. The ends of this arm also have ribbon metal catches 52 which are free to swing on pivots 53 at the rear side of the arm and act automatically by gravity as will presently appear.

Operation-1he flanged metal stampings. which I have indicated at 5-il in Figs. XIV and XVI, are received by the operator of this machine in pairs nested together, as in dicated in Fig. XIV. He grasps a pair and places it upon one of the holders 27 as the latter moves with the arm 23 in a clockwise direction, viewing the machine as in Fig. I, while the arm is moving up into horizontal position. The flanges of the stamping; then rest at one side in the rabbet 33 on the plate 32 and at the other side upon the studs or pins 51. The holder 27 is so constructed as to closely lit within the stampings and thus prevent sidewise movement thereof. The operator holds the siampings thus in position untilthe flanges have been engaged by the flared strip 39 and directed by it into close engagement with the surface of the liJi rabbet' 33 and until the knife edge of the wedge section 36 under the strip'39 has been presented to the joint between the flanges and has begun to pass between them and run til the catch 52 has descended by gravity to take the position indicated by full lines in Fig. XIV. The stampings are then retained by the catch 52 on one site and by the wedge on the other side, and the operator may release his hold and pick up another pair of stampings to be placed upon the other holder 27 when it comes into position for him todo so.

Following the first pair of stampings as it moves around the plate 32, the flanges on the side where they are engaged over opposite surfaces of the wedge, are very gradual- 1y but continuously spread apart. When they come into a position at the right of the machine slightly below the center of the plate 32 the catch 52 swings down by gravity away from the stampings. By this time the tight union between the stampings is broken, and as they come opposite the finger 44 the outer. loosened stamping is suddenly deflected outwardly at its side nearest the center of the plate 32 until it overbalances and drops from the machine into a suitable receptacle (not shown). The other stamping however is still held on the holder 27 because of the fact that its flange still lies within the rabbet 33 between the plate 32 and the wedge. However, when it passes the end of the wedge it is caught by the lip 49 on stripping finger 48 and deflected out wardly sufliciently to be dumped by gravity.

The machine can be run fast enough to keep one operator busy feeding nested stampings, and the labor involved is obvious ly very light while the number of pairs oi stamping-s which can be separated in a given length of time equals what several eXperienced workmen can accomplish by hand.

To those skilled in the artit will be obvious that various changes in detail construc tion may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention. In the broader aspects of the invention it is immaterial whether the wedge moves or whether the holder moves, so long as there is relative motion between these parts. Hence, I do not desire to be bound by any limitations except such as are included in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. The method of separating flanged, nested stampings, which consists in moving a pair of nested stampings along a flat surface with wedge spaced therefrom by approximately the t ickness of one flange, causing said wedge to enter and advance between the flanges, stripping the outer stamping from the pair after the flanges of the pair have been wedged apart sufficiently to loosen the union between the stampings, and removing the remaining stamping after it has passed the butt end of the wedge.

2. In a machine for separating flanged, nested stampings, a flat base, a wedge mounted upon said base but spaced therefrom suiticiently to permit the flange of one stamping to move freely therebetween, means for holding a pair ot' nested stampings so as to present the joint between flanges alon one side of the stampings to the point or the wedge. means for producing relative motion between said stampings and wedge along one edge of the latter, and means for stripping the outer of said stampings from the machine after the union between stampings has been loosened by said wedge while the inner of said stampings is still'held by its flange between said base and wedge.

3. In a machine for separating flanged, nested stampings, a flat base, a wedge mounted rigidly with respect to said base and spaced therefrom throughout its length suiiiciently to permit one flange to move freely between said base and wedge, a holder for supporting a pair of nested stampings, means for producing relative motion between said holder and wedge so as to cause the stampings to engage the point of the wedge at the joint between the flanges along one side of the stampings and to continue engagement along one edge of the wedge, and means for stripping the outer of said stampings from the machine after the union between stampings has been loosened by said wedge while the inner of said stampings is still held by its flange between said base and wedge.

4. In a machine for separating flanged, nested stampings, an elongated wedge, a holder for 'stampings, means for causing the point of said wedge to pass between the flanges of two adjacent stampings and for causing its tapering walls to advance be tween said flanges to separate the latter and break the union between said stampings, means for stripping the outer one of the stampings from the machine before the relative motion between the holderand wedge is completed and means for holding the flange oi the other stamping against the opposite side of the wedge until the relative motion between the holder and wedge is connaleted.

5. In a machine t'or separating flanged. nested stampings, an arcuate wedge, a holder for stampings, said wedge and holder being capable of relative rotary motion about the center of the circle from which the arc of said wedge is struck, means for causing said relative motion, the holder and wedge beingso positioned that the joint bet-ween the flanges of said stampings along one side of the latter will be'presented during the course of said motion to the point of the wedge, whereby the tapered walls of the wedge will gradually spread the flanges until the said relative n'iotion is completed. 6. in a machine for separating flanged,

, a wedge formed along an arc oi a an arm niiounted to turn about the center of said circle, a holder for stampi mounted upon the free end of said arm at a radius such as to bring the flanges oi the stz'nnpin on the side towards the wet into circ r alignment: therewith, means moving said arm to cause the point of the weds to enter between the flanges and to cause the tapered walls or the wedge to gradually spread the flanges and break the union between the stan'ipings, means upon one wall of the wedge for stripping one stamping f om the macnine before the holder has travir'sed the cut e length o1 the wedge, and means iior re aining the flange ot the other stamping against the op posite wall oi the wedge until the holder has passed the butt end of the we 7. In a machine for separat ng flanged, nested stampings, a wedge termed along an arc of a circle, an arm mounted to turn aboutthe center of said circle, a holder for stampings mounted uponthe free end of said arm at a radius such as to bring the flanges ot the stampings on the side towards the wedge into circular alignment therewith, means for moving said arm to cause the point of the wedge to enter between the flanges and to cause the tapered walls of the wedge to gradually spread the flanges and break the union between the stampings, a catch upon said arm for engagement over the. flanges on the side of the stampings furthest removed from the wedge, moans upon one wall of the wedge tor stripping one stamping from the machine before the holder lias traversed the entire length of the wedge, said catch being automatically disengaged just prior to said stripping operation, and means tor retaining the flange of the other stamping against the opposite wall of the wedge until the holder has passed the butt end oi the wedge.

8. In a machine for separating flanged, nested stampings, a circular plate. a wedge formed along a portion of the periphery of said plate and spaced therefrom by approximately the thickness of one stamping t ange, an arm with a pivotal connection at the center of said plate, a holder for stampings mounted upon the free end of said arm at a radius such as to bring the flanges of the stampings on the side towards the wedge into circular alignment therewitl'i, means for producing relative rotary motion be- 9f'The method of separating flangednested stampings which consists in moving a pair of nested stampings along a flat surface with a wedge spaced therefrom by approximately the thickness of oneflang causing said wedge to enter and advance between the flanges snfliciently to loosen the union between the stampings, removing one stamping, and removing the remaining stan'iping after it has passed the butt endpof the wedge.

10. In a machine for separating flanged nested ampings, an elongatedwedge with its tapering walls longitudinally extending, a holder for st-ampings, and means for cans ing the point of said wedge to pass between the l'langcs of two adjacent stampings and for causing its tapering walls to advance longitudinally between said flanges to separate the latter and break the union between said stampings.

11. in a machine for separating flanged no. ted stampin an arcuate wedge, a holder tor stanngiings, said wedge and holder being capable of relative rotary motion about the center oi the circle from which the arc of said wedge is struck, and means for causing said relative motion, the holder and Wedge being so positioned that the joint between the flanges of said stampings along one side of the latter will be presented during the course of said motion to the point of the wedge, whereby the tapered walls of the wedge will gradually spread the flanges art to break the union between the stamp- 12. In a machine for separating flanged nested stampmgs, a wedge tormed along an arc of a circle, an arm mounted to turn about the center of said circle, a holder for stan'ipings mounted upon thei'ree end of said arm at a radius such as to bring the flanges ot the stampings on the side towards the wedge into circular alignment there with, and means for moving said arm to cause the point of the wedge to enter between the hinges and to cause the tapered walls of the wedge to gradually spread the flanges and break the union between the stampings.

13. In a machine for separating flanged nested stampings, a circular plate, a wedge formed along a portion of the periphery of said plate and spaced therefrom by ap' proximately the thickness of one stamping flange, an arm with a pivotal connection at the center of said plate, a holder for stampings mounted upon the free end of said arm 5 at a radius such as to bring the flanges of the stampings on the side towards the wedge into circular alignment therewith, and means for producing relative rotary motion between said plate and arm to cause the point of the wedge to enter between the flanges and to cause the tapered walls thereof to gradually spread the flanges and break the union between the stampings.

In testimony whereof I afl ix my signature.

CLYDE C. MANCHESTER. 

